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Construction equipment manufacturing giant JCB is to cut up to 400 jobs from its UK workforce over the coming weeks because of a slowdown in global construction.
The Rocester-based company has reported that its sales have declined by 43% during the first half of its financial year. It said the market has dropped most in Russia, by 70%, China by 47%, followed by Brazil, which dropped by 36%.
Growth in Europe and North America has “softened”, it added, while some parts of Europe have fallen, such as France, which is down by 26%.
Graeme McDonald, chief executive of JCB, said: "Market conditions in the construction equipment sector have been difficult for some time, but they have worsened quite rapidly in recent weeks.
"The situation is not about to improve, certainly not in the short term, so we now need to take difficult but decisive actions to align overheads to lower sales forecasts. Regrettably, this will result in up to 400 staff positions becoming redundant across our UK businesses."
The company has started a consultation process with it UK workers and said it will attempt to "minimise the impact" by considering voluntary redundancies. It employs 6,500 people and 5,5000 outside of the UK.
Gordon Richardson, GMB senior shop steward at JCB, said "These up to 400 staff job losses are the first ripple from the downturn in world markets including China impacting on the UK economy.
“This huge wave of uncertainty is likely to lead to further job losses in the sectors that trade with the rest of the world.”
Several construction equipment manufacturers have now reported a decline in sales because of falling infrastructure spending, as countries adjust to slower Chinese demand.